Philippine economy expands 7 percent in 3Q

Thursday

Nov 28, 2013 at 12:01 AMNov 28, 2013 at 4:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippine economy expanded 7 percent in the third quarter, but growth is expected to slow because of devastation from the super typhoon that hit eastern regions earlier this month.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine economy expanded 7 percent in the third quarter, but growth is expected to slow because of devastation from the super typhoon that hit eastern regions earlier this month.

He says agriculture made the smallest contribution to third quarter GDP due to the effects of 10 storms in the July-September period.

Growth for the first nine months of the year was 7.4 percent, making the Philippines one of the world's fastest growing economies.

The government last week lowered this year's growth forecast to a range of 6.5 to 7 percent from 7.3 percent to reflect damage to agriculture and industry from Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 5,500 people.